The Breitling Watch Source Forums

On October 27, 2001, I bought a Navi Montbrillant from the store that became Tourneau Chicago in November 2001. I have never had it repaired until this year. It suddenly was running tremendously slow (15 minutes a day). It had previously been off by about 10 sec/day. Also the crown was no longer very tight. Additionally, the crystal was scratched. The watch was $3975 list, but the store that was being converted gave a 40% discount to make it $2390. The service this month cost 1175, which was half the cost of the original watch. Of the approximately 3400 days since I purchased the watch, I estimate that I have worn it 1500-2000 days, but almost continuously for the last 3 years. The watch is now running about 5 seconds fast per day, which is better than when I first bought it. However, the spring movement is now a bit clunkier and I can feel spring action as I wear the watch about 4 or 5 times a day. What did they do that makes the spring action so noticeable. At times it is as noticeable as the jump date feature's spring action on my Longines Conquest purchased at about the same time. Additionally, the crown is now less tight than the original watch, but tighter than when I brought it in for repair. Why was the watch so dang expensive to repair? What is a 2001 Navi worth (I don't even know if values go up or down)? Should I complain about the clunky spring action?

Watches, as with cars, needs to be serviced every now and then to work properly. And just as with cars, the more expensive the watch was from the beginning the more expensive will the service be. Unfortunately I think most AD's don't mention this from the beginning to an unexperienced customer, maybe because they don't want them to leave empty handed.

Normally it takes 5-7 years between service intervals and if your watch is 10 years old it isn't strange to have the cost for two services during that time (which is roughly what you paid for your overhaul).

The value for your watch today would probably be around the $2500 mark, but much depending on the state. Watches very rarely increase in value over time, normally it takes a very special, limited and unusual watch to achieve a value increase.

I think it's the normal movement you feel, but you'll probably get more opinions in a short while.

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Modern watch oils have broken down completely after 7 years or so - 9 years ago the lifespan would have been less. You have been running what was effectively a non lubricated watch for more than 2 years (potentially longer if the watch was sitting in the ADs showcase for a while) so the expensive service doesn't surprise me in the least.

Would need to understand better what you mean by spring action, but suspect as aleister suggests that it's the normal movement motion. If not, the service comes with a 12 month warranty.

Why would the normal movement be noticeable after repair when previously it was not?

These movements have moving parts, and freshly oiled they'll move more - particularly the rotor, which may well make it more noticeable. As I said, I would need to understand more what you mean by 'spring action'. There are only two springs in the movement - a mainspring and a hairspring, neither of which would be directly noticeable to you in their movement.

I notice movement in all my automatic watches and that is normal!

You should hear and feel the rotor moving, you even notice a shift in weight from one side to the other. If this is what you mean my "spring action".

Aim for 5 years for your next service, that is the best service interval. You can extend it a little bit but 10 years is a bit to long really!

I wore the watch for 9 years and there was no spring action detectable on my wrist. Now, I pay them $1175 and my watch catches my attention with some sort of spring action 5 times a day.



That may be what I am noticing now, but I did not for the first nine years.



Does this depend on how much you wear the watch? For example, I bought a Longines Conquest at about the same time that I have only worn about 20% as much (tops 500 days since 2001). Most of the time, it just sits on my bedstand unwound. Are we measuring in 5 years of active wear regardless of use? I have never serviced my Longines.

I don't know much about the innerds, but now my watch catches my attention with its movements 5 times a day.

Movement sounds perfectly normal to me.

Service intervals are generally determined these days by aging oils. Oils break down over time and after 5 - 7 years they aren't providing the required lubrication. That has nothing to do with the amount of wear they get. Think of a car analogy - if a car has been sitting unused for several years you would still want to change the fluids.

The watch may well run for longer than that period, but without lubrication you are causing more wear and potentially damaging parts, resulting in a more expensive service bill - as you discovered.